And We Will Try Again
by Ifxyouxwerexme
Summary: Pete realized all to late that he didn't know enough about Tyler to help him.


Tyler realized, moments after he started to hang upside down, that it wasn't a good idea. The security guards below were shouting at him, and Tyler pondered his own sanity, he had after all, climbed half way out into the middle of the high beam to hang upside down.

 ** _"_** **Let go** ** _."_**

Tyler pulled off his mask, and let it drop to the ground. He grasped the bar between his legs again. Josh, stood below, yelling something at Tyler that he couldn't really make out. Ah, right, ear buds.

Tyler's shirt hung around his shoulders, he pondered life for a moment before moving his arms and letting his shirt, as well as his jacket and phone, fall several feet to the floor below. He heard sirens in the distance, rapidly approaching the building.

"Tyler!" Josh yelled, he cupped his hands around his mouth, "the fire department will be here soon!" The members of Fallout boy were amidst the mess below, looking up at Tyler. He couldn't see their faces, but he had the sinking feeling of disappointing someone.

 **"They want you to jump."** Blurry face whispered. **"you could have at least done this outside, less of a mess for everyone to clean up when you fall."** Tyler closed his eyes and swallowed hard. He stopped holding the bar between his legs with his hands, and let them hang beside his head. Tyler's body swung slightly back and forth. Butterflies settled in his stomach as Tyler looked back at the people on the ground. Did they really think that?

 **"Yes"**

The sirens had finally come to the building, several firemen came in, carrying something that looked like a trampoline. Someone handed Pete Wentz a mega phone, so he could talk to Tyler.

"WE ARE GOING TO FOLLOW YOU WITH THE NET, WE WANT YOU TO GO BACK TO THE SIDE OF THE RIG AND CLIMB DOWN." Tyler sighed, and put his hands back on the bar. He thought for a minute, about pulling himself back up and walking, but decided he didn't want to. Instead, Tyler pulled his feet down, and held onto the bar with his hands.

 **"If you think about it, this is kind of like a fucked up monkey bars."** Blurry face said before he fell silent.

"NO, TYLER, DON'T DO THAT!" He couldn't tell, but Pete sounded slightly panicked.

 **"He doesn't care, get moving."** Tyler nodded, and tried to move his body backward, to get a kind-of swinging momentum going. When he had enough momentum, Tyler let go of the bar with one hand and grasped another in front of him.

"TYLER, I WOULD REALLY APRICIATE IT IF YOU DIDN'T DO THAT." Pete yelled, Tyler ignored him and kept swinging. His hands hurt, and he was beginning to sweat.

 **"Let go."**

Tyler went to swing backwards, and his hand slipped, he quickly pulled the other hand up and caught himself before he could completely let go of the bar, but below him, Josh noticed.

"Tyler?" Josh yelled, Pete looked over at him, and then back up at Tyler who had stopped moving.

"TYLER? PPLEASE STOP SWINGING, YOUR HANDS ARE GOING TO GET SWEATY, AND YOU'RE GOING TO LOSE YOUR GRIP AND THAT WILL MAKE YOU-"

 **"let go"**

So he let go.

Josh yelled below and for a few seconds, life seemed to stretch before him. It was eerie, like stopped clocks, or cold wind at night, when it's not snowing. A feeling of riding a roller coaster filled Tyler's stomach as he plummeted, and for a few graceful seconds, he felt like nothing else mattered. Tyler closed his eyes, and just let go.

FWUMP

Tyler smacked straight into the center of the small trampoline like thing, and all air was forced out of his lungs. Later, he would rationalize it was because he fell on his back, but for a few seconds, as he rasped and tried to breath, he felt like god had taken all of the air out of his lungs.

Josh was the first one to get ahold of him when the trampoline got set down, pounding on his back and trying to force air back into his lungs as he coughed and sputtered. A fireman pulled Josh off, and yelled at Tyler to put his hands over his head. Small tears formed at the corners of Tyler's eyes from coughing, and he finally drew a proper breath. A fireman caught him by the arm and gave him a look.

"I know you weren't trying to do something stupid,"; He paused waiting for Tyler to nod, "But I would really appreciate it if you didn't do that in the future." Tyler nodded and the fire man clapped him on the back. "thanks kid."

When Tyler was free of the Firemen, Josh came over and enveloped him in a bone crushing hug. Josh handed him his shirt and jacket, then presented to him his phone which had become little more than crushed glass.

"you scared me man, you really looked like you were going to hit the ground! I didn't think we'd be able to catch you!" Josh said, he smiled. Tyler said nothing, doing his best to give off a nice smile.

"Nah, I was just bored." He said, laughing along with his friend.

"So maybe next time, don't give me a heart attack so soon after a show?" Josh said, Tyler grinned, and nodded.

"Yeah, I'll keep that in mind." Josh turned, and walked over to a fireman, Tyler let his statue slip, only slightly, as he walked over to the side of the stage. He had every intention of going to the bus and hiding in his bunk for several hours.

 **"It's not like anyone will miss you."**

"Hey Tyler!" Called Pete, He power walked toward Tyler. When he reached him, he slung his arm around him and began to steer him in the direction of the Fall out boy bus, instead of his own.

"Uh? Hi?" Tyler said, he was confused by the sudden attention he was getting from Pete. It wasn't as if they hadn't talked yet on tour, but it still felt odd to talk to him without someone else walking with them. On the way, they passed Joe. Pete caught his arm and whispered something to him.

"Keep everyone off the bus for a while, alright?" Joe looked confused for a moment, before realization crossed over his face. Tyler cocked his head to the side slightly and looked between the two men. A look of understanding had passed between them, and he didn't understand what he had missed.

"Uh, alright. Whatever." He said, he walked over to Andy, and began talking to him, pointing in the general direction of the bus as he did so. Andy looked at Pete, shrugged his shoulders, and walked over to Patrick. Pete nodded, almost to himself, and began walking again, pulling Tyler with him.

"Uh? Pete? W- what's up?"

"Well kid, we got to talk about some stuff, and ya might not like where it goes." Tyler pondered over what he meant, all the while letting the shorter man pull him to the bus.

"I Wasn't trying to upset anyone; I was just-" What was he doing?

"you were just what?" Pete asked, Tyler swallowed, and scratched at the band tattoo on his wrist. "Because it looked like a dumb idea you had when you were bored." Pete said. Tyler slumped his shoulder a little, relieved that Pete hadn't thought he was going to Jump. "And for a while there, Joe and I thought you were going to jump."

 **"Busted Tyler."** Blurry face sneered, **"I wonder how your friends would feel if they knew how much you thought about death.**

"I was never going to-" Tyler started, but he was cut off by Pete picking him up and swinging him over his shoulder. For someone smaller than him, he was sure as hell strong.

 **"That's because your arms are the size of twigs you idiot."** Pete walked around swinging Tyler around a little, humming as he did so. His shoulder cut into Tyler's stomach, knocking the air out of him.

"Tyler, did you know, there are ways to tell if someone is lying to you, at least, if they aren't good at lying. And boy let me tell you, you are not at lying." Pete carried him to the back room and plopped him on the couch. Tyler had a vague memory of being carried similarly by his brother once in high school.

"I'm sorry." Tyler said. He felt like he was about to get hit, like Pete was about to pummel him into oblivion. He'd only ever been in one fight, and his dad had been the one to break it up. He began to physically sink into himself. "I didn't mean to make you angry." Pete, realizing that this would be very different than disciplining Patrick, decided to take a different approach.

"Tyler, I'm not angry with you." Pete began he sat down next to Tyler, "I just care about you. I don't want you to get hurt." Tyler touched the tattoo on his wrist, trying to keep from looking at Pete.

 **"He just doesn't want to deal with the publicity of someone dying on tour with him."**

"I'm just…" Tyler said, he fingered his tattoo and took a deep breath. "I'm having problems. Over thinking, and stuff."

 **"he doesn't care."**

"Yeah, I feel you. We were touring once, and I had a wave of depression, it was terrible." Pete said, he looked down at his hands when he said it. Tyler felt better, everyone always described touring as one of the best things, and here was someone who did it a lot, telling him to was normal to be sad about it.

"I, uh, I have something to… confess." Tyler said, he looked down at his hands, wondering why he wanted to talk to Pete about this, when sometimes he couldn't even talk to Josh about it.

"Hm?" Pete said, he watched Tyler closely. "I'm listening."

"I, I let go today. I didn't fall, I let go." It felt good to tell someone, like a weight had been lifted. Pete stiffen. He opened his mouth to say something, and then closed it again. He seemed to be trying to figure out what to say.

"Tyler, have you ever been spanked?" Pete asked, Tyler blinked a few times before answering. The air around him seemed to slow a bit, like it did at night.

"Of course I have; I grew up in a Christian family." It was almost an immediate response; he'd been asked before.

"I'm not used to doing it this way," Pete said, "Whenever I do this with Patrick, I have to bully him into it, or he freaks out. Makes him feel better about it I guess."

"Do what?"

"Tyler, I care about you, you could have gotten hurt today."

"I know." Tyler whispered, the feeling of having all air forced from his lungs was still fresh in his, mind, and if he tried to breath deeply, he could still feel a tingle of pain.

"I want to make sure that it doesn't happen again." Pete said, he spoke slowly, like Tyler didn't understand what he was saying, and in all honesty, he didn't. Tyler's brain failed him as he tried to comprehend what Pete was saying. And then, it clicked.

"Oh." Tyler thought about how much it used to hurt when he got spanked, and he knew his father wasn't really hitting him all that hard, and he'd been a lot younger. He also remembered how much better he felt afterwards, how he didn't feel like his brain was clouded, and how he felt like everything was clear. What had Zack called it? Euphoric. "ok."

"Okay?" Pete questioned, it was never this easy. No one was willing to get their ass whipped.

"Yeah, Okay. What do you want me to do?" Tyler asked, he looked Pete in the eye for the first time since coming on the bus.

"uh?" It took Pete a few seconds to catch up with Tyler, it really never went like this. "Stand up, and unbutton your pants, come over here;" He motioned to his left side, "and I'll take it from there." Tyler stood to do what Pete asked, but Pete stopped him.

"Wait, hold on, let me go get something." Pete said, he was secretly hoping Tyler would come to his senses, and realize what he was agreeing to, it was so strange to have someone willingly agree to a spanking, much less do it with so little fuss. Tyler stood still and waited, his heart beating rapidly in his chest. Pete grabbed his hairbrush from his bunk, and walked briskly to the back room of the bus.

"You ready?" Pete asked when he re-entered. Tyler nodded and licked his lips. They felt dry, and he felt like throwing up. Tyler clasped his hands inform of him, bringing them up to his chin and taking a deep breath.

"Yeah." Pete sat back down, and Tyler did was he was told, unbuttoning his pants and moving to Pete's left. Pete took ahold of one of Tyler's hands and pulled him over his lap. Pete couldn't remember a time when he'd felt so in charge. It was one thing to take charge from someone, when you thought they needed help, but it was another when someone agreed, and was willing.

SMACK! Tyler gasped, but otherwise didn't make any sounds, Pete waited a few seconds before bringing the brush down again. He decided that Tyler wasn't the sort of person to lecture while spanking. He doubted that it would have any real effect on him.

SMACK!

SMACK!

SMACK!

SMACK!

Tyler tightened the muscles in his legs, and in turn the muscles in his ass. He knew it would hurt more, but he didn't want to kick Pete. Tyler clasped his hands in front of him, his entire body becoming one big tension wire.

SMACK!

SMACK!

SMACK!

SMACK!

SMACK! "Tyler, relax." Pete wasn't used to having these kind of difficulties with Patrick, he was more concerned with Patrick staying still.

SMACK!

Tyler continued to keep his muscles taunt, and Pete sighed. "Please, relax. It'll hurt more if you keep your muscles like that."

"I don't want to kick you." Tyler whispered, his voice hoarse from holding him emotions. What kind of emotions? He wasn't sure. It didn't hurt enough to cry yet, but he sure felt like a ball of tears was forming in his throat.

"Then I'll pin your legs, here, stand up for a second." Tyler obeyed, and awkwardly stood up, he felt like a gangly mess of limbs. Pete pulled Tyler's Jeans down to his knees, leaving his boxers in place, and then helped him back over. "There, comfortable?" Tyler didn't answer, Pete sighed.

"Tough crowd."

SMACK! Pulled one of his hands toward his mouth, and then allowed the other to outstretch in front of him, he took a deep breath, and willed himself to calm down. He'd been spanked before, no big deal. His brain, however, disagreed. It was a big deal, Pete was his mentor, and he was about to lay into his ass like a little kid.

 **" you agreed to this."**

SMACK! SMACK! SMACK! SMACK!

Pete shook his hand, and looked over at Tyler's head. His eyes were closed, but other than that he seemed fine. Pete closed his eyes, and tried to remember why he was doing this, because it was beginning to feel a little pointless. Every time he'd spanked someone, they always had a reaction. Well, everyone but fucking Tyler.

Pete picked up the brush, and made up his mind. He swiftly pulled down Tyler's underwear- no response- and brought the brush down.

CRACK! Tyler jumped, Pete jumped, and then Pete smacked him again. Tyler sunk back down to the couch, flinching every time that the brush was brought down.

Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!

Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!

Tyler hissed through his teeth, and Pete congratulated himself.

Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!

"You good Tyler?" he asked, Tyler, who had been about to put his fist in his mouth didn't respond. Pete frowned at the back of Tyler's head and brought the Brush down harder.

CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! "Ahh! Pete!" Tyler yelled, he went to push up on the couch but Pete pushed him back down and kept right on smacking.

CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!

CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!

"I'm sorry!" Tyler said, Pete couldn't help but think how everyone apologized when they were on the receiving end of pain.

CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!

CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!

"I'm sorry I let go!" Tyler chocked out, he put his head down in his hands and cried. Pete felt a tug on his heart strings, he sighed, and raised his arm.

CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!

"I didn't think anyone would care!" he gasped,

CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!

"I'm sorry!"

CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!

CRACK! "We care about you," CRACK! "Tyler," CRACK! "and We would care," CRACK! "If you died." CRACK!

"So, it this if the only way," CRACK! CRACK! "to get it through your think head," CRACK! Then I will do this," CRACK! "Every," CRACK! "Single," CRACK! "Day." CRACK! Tyler whined into his hands, little gaspy noises that Pete knew to be crying.

CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!

"Okay? Do you understand?" Pete asked, he was exhausted, and he sure as hell hoped he would have to do every damn day. Tyler didn't respond, he continued rasping out his breath, Pete raised his hand, when he finally answered.

"Yes! Understand!" Pete nodded, and decided that he was almost done.

CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!

"Alright Tyler," Tyler pushed himself up off of Pete's lap and violently yanked his pants up, he choked on a sob as he did. Pete expected him to bolt then and there, never talking to him again. Instead he stood there, rocking back and forth on his feet, crying into his hands.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!" he repeated. Pete realized what was happening and stood up. He felt helpless, sometimes when people have panic attacks, they want to be touched, but sometimes, if you touch them it only makes it worse. Pete realized too little too late that he didn't know Tyler well enough to do this. So, Pete did the only thing he knew to do. He left Tyler on the bus, and went to go and find Josh.

Tyler squatted down, and sat on the floor, his hands grasping for purchase, yanking and pulling on his hair. He tried to calm down, but he felt like the world was caving in around him. Josh sprinted up onto the bus, and immediately found Tyler crouched on the floor in the back lounge. He sat next to him, and didn't ask questions. he didn't try and talk Tyler down, he just sat with him, and put his arm around his best friend.


End file.
